To be fair, even though he looked like Doogie Howser's younger brother, the boy billionaire was in college by the time he came up with Facebook. Still, despite all the geezers hanging out there these days, Facebook was created for young people by young people.

Now, at the wizened old age of 27, Zuckerberg wants to do away with Facebook's age limit. A lot of grown-ups, however, are none too keen on the idea. They worry about bullies, stalkers, scammers and the like -- not to mention the potential of giving children yet another level of mindless distraction.

"I would be very uncomfortable about extending this and I think it's very, very irresponsible of Facebook to be suggesting it," sniffs Claire Perry, a Conservative member of the British Parliament in an interview with the London Daily Telegraph.

"With close parental supervision all of these social networking sites can be interesting and enjoyable," she adds. "But I know from my own experience it is all too easy for a young child to get involved in situations that I think are really uncomfortable."

You have to be at least 13 to have a Facebook account under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Britain doesn't have such a law. However, Facebook's own terms and conditions mirror American law.

But, speaking at a summit on innovation education in New Jersey this week, Zuckerberg vows to challenge the law and change Facebook's rules -- at some point.

"My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age," Zuckerberg said at the summit. "Because of the restrictions, we haven't even begun this learning process. If they're lifted, then we'd start to learn what works."

Zuckerberg's critics point that it is pitifully simple to set up a Facebook account. You can set up a page for your toaster in less than five minutes -- complete with fake biography, email address and everything. Pedophiles have thus used the site to create aliases and lure children.

Laws such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act are designed to stop online predators. Claire Lilly, the sexual abuse policy adviser for Britain's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, tells the Telegraph Zuckerberg is in the minority, and that most parents and lawmakers agree age limitations make sense.

"There have been great benefits brought by the Internet, but there online bullying is particularly prevalent on social networks," she tells the newspaper. "The information commissioner has said it is about the age of 12 when a child can understand the risks of handing over personal data and we would agree with that.

"We would like to see safety tools as prominent as possible, and social networks should be proactively trying to identify individuals who pose a risk, not just reacting to reports from children," she adds.

According to Consumer Reports, 7.5 million of Facebook's 600 million users are younger than 13 anyway. Apparently, a large number of under-age accounts were either set up by parents for children or without parents' knowledge.

"Recent reports have highlighted just how difficult it is to implement age restrictions on the Internet, and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don't circumvent a system or lie about their age," a Facebook spokesman tells the Telegraph. "We agree with safety experts that communication between parents or guardians and kids about their use of the Internet is vital."

AOL Answers is no longer available.

As AOL continues to grow and evolve we are taking necessary actions to ensure our efforts and resources are
focused on the areas where we can create the maximum amount of value for our loyal consumer base. As a result
we have decided to sunset AOL Answers. Thank you for your participation in this site. If you have an AOL-related
question (passwords, account information, etc.), please visit our AOL Help site at help.aol.com.

TheTalkies:RelatedVideos

Mark Zuckerberg: Cuba "Something That We Might Consider"The chief executive of Facebook Inc. Mark Zuckerberg attended a business forum Thursday taking place alongside the Summit of the Americas in Panama City. Launched back in 2004, Facebook is already the world's largest social media network with roughly one out every five human beings connected. But the 30-year old Zuckerberg was in Panama to further expand Facebook's reach. Zuckerberg was accompanied at the business forum by Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Turns 30In honor of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg,the billionaire's 30th birthday on Wednesday, the Internet has exploded with lists of 30 things he should do to celebrate, 30 things he's accomplished, 30 little-known facts about him and plenty of analysis over whether Facebook is maturing too. Tweets are pouring in with people wishing Zuckerberg a Happy Birthday and telling stories of how Facebook changed their lives.

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook News Feed Will Be Mostly Video In Five YearsFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg placed a big emphasis on video during the opening keynote address at the tech giant's annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.In Facebook's early days, users shared primarily text content, Zuckerberg told the audience. Today, they share mostly photos. "Fast forward five years, it's going to be video," he said. "If you look out even further, it will be more immersive content like AR and VR.

TheTalkies

AOL Answers is no longer available.

As AOL continues to grow and evolve we are taking necessary actions to ensure our efforts and resources are
focused on the areas where we can create the maximum amount of value for our loyal consumer base. As a result
we have decided to sunset AOL Answers. Thank you for your participation in this site. If you have an AOL-related
question (passwords, account information, etc.), please visit our AOL Help site at help.aol.com.